Attempting a Surprise - Will it be Done??

[GeezerCouple]

My vote is last minute surprise!!!! I am a planner, too, but I am secretly hoping my husband surprises me one day. He has tried in the past but can never keep the secret from me. I love surprises.

 

I just successfully surprised my husband with a weekend cruise to nowhere out of NY (we are from NY so no flight involved) in January. It was great! I prearranged shows, got him a casino credit waiting in the room for us, etc. I packed for him a few things each day so he didn't notice a lot of things missing at once and, like you Already thought about, I got him extra mini toiletries to pack so I didn't need to take his. I hid the luggage in his trunk the night before we left because after he went up to bed I "remembered" I left my cell phone in the car "haha." Really I switched the luggage from my car to his trunk. I didn't think he would open his trunk (he didn't). The next day I left my car at work (arranged for it to be left there) took a bus to my husbands job, told him we were leaving and got in his car that already had the luggage, but he didn't know the luggage was there so didn't realize we were going anywhere.

 

Good luck!!

 

I love the part about how you "left your cell phone in the car".

 

That was such a great way to organize everything.

I can't even imagine what he must have been thinking when you showed up suddenly, and told him you were both just "leaving"!

 

But good thing no one called just as you told him about leaving your cell phone in the car the previous night, and the phone then rang in your pocket :eek:

 

GeezerCoupl

[bean24]

I would be so happy if my husband did this, but since I'm the planner much more likely I will someday. Keep us updated and good luck.

 

 

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[js]

It sounds wonderful!

Enjoy and have fun.

What will you be doing with your four children that he will not realize about babysitting?

That is the only thing I can think of I think.

[Fins2theleft]

We surprised our son with a cruise for Christmas leaving on the day after a few years back. It was a tough secret to keep for 5 months but we managed to keep it quite. We almost slipped a couple of times, but the surprise was worth it. It can be done with a little work.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Fins2theleft

[js]

We surprised our son with a cruise for Christmas leaving on the day after a few years back. It was a tough secret to keep for 5 months but we managed to keep it quite. We almost slipped a couple of times, but the surprise was worth it. It can be done with a little work.

 

We did this with my two children over Easter break once for a Disney trip.

They were both sleeping and I woke them up for school, they got dressed and there was a limo waiting outside to take us to the airport.

 

I imagine though it is much tougher to do with a spouse. I was playing around doing something like this for my dh's 50th birthday but just for a weekend cruise, which would still be difficult for me LOL

[Juvesgirl]

I love the part about how you "left your cell phone in the car".

 

That was such a great way to organize everything.

I can't even imagine what he must have been thinking when you showed up suddenly, and told him you were both just "leaving"!

 

But good thing no one called just as you told him about leaving your cell phone in the car the previous night, and the phone then rang in your pocket :eek:

 

GeezerCoupl

 

I was afraid of that...which is why I left my cell phone in the car on purpose!!!!!

[DaisyGoldberg]

You could pull a double surprise -- tell him 18 hours before (so he doesn't nap) ... but tell him you got a great last minute deal on a week in Miami! That way he can see all the luggage (the night before) and pack what he wants for warm weather, but still won't really know what the big surprise is.

 

Once you're in Miami you can decide when to tell him. (You might have to explain why you don't want to unpack everything -- or why you're staying at a not particularly tourist-y hotel)

 

The hotel can be explained by the great deal you got -- and I suppose you COULD unpack, and then re-pack (with his help) after you suggest over breakfast that you'd like to spend the day in your cabin on the _______.

[GeezerCouple]

I was afraid of that...which is why I left my cell phone in the car on purpose!!!!!

 

 

:) :D :)

 

 

GeezerCouple

[donutcop]

My vote is last minute surprise!!!! I am a planner, too, but I am secretly hoping my husband surprises me one day. He has tried in the past but can never keep the secret from me. I love surprises.

 

I just successfully surprised my husband with a weekend cruise to nowhere out of NY (we are from NY so no flight involved) in January. It was great! I prearranged shows, got him a casino credit waiting in the room for us, etc. I packed for him a few things each day so he didn't notice a lot of things missing at once and, like you Already thought about, I got him extra mini toiletries to pack so I didn't need to take his. I hid the luggage in his trunk the night before we left because after he went up to bed I "remembered" I left my cell phone in the car "haha." Really I switched the luggage from my car to his trunk. I didn't think he would open his trunk (he didn't). The next day I left my car at work (arranged for it to be left there) took a bus to my husbands job, told him we were leaving and got in his car that already had the luggage, but he didn't know the luggage was there so didn't realize we were going anywhere.

 

Good luck!!

 

That would have been an awesome surprise for your husband :) Hopefully I can pull it off!

[donutcop]

My 2 cents. I don't know what the two of you do, but your boss already knows so have your boss tell your husband that the two of you have been selected to attend some seminar in the port city and that he gave all the information to you already. If you know someone decent at graphics you can even make fake seminar brochures that include the pre-cruise hotel as place to stay. That way he could pack himself, and wouldn't be the wiser until you actually were at the pier...

 

Love this idea! We, however are both police officers (working in patrol) so no travel for us. Definitely none to the US. It's not normal for us to even get off from a shift early and if we work that nightshift i'd have to be hoping and praying for no big calls to come in otherwise we might not be allowed to leave! I'm thinking it'll take some stress away to actually book that night off of work. I just have to make sure my husband keeps time in his bank to be able to take that night off lol

[donutcop]

It sounds wonderful!

Enjoy and have fun.

What will you be doing with your four children that he will not realize about babysitting?

That is the only thing I can think of I think.

 

We were both married previously and share 50/50 custody with the other parents. I'm planning on asking them to keep the kids for the days we'd normally have them. It has never been an issue in the past because we do the same for the other parents when they go away. Worst case scenario is I have my parents who live 15 minutes away who will take care of them. Our custody works out that the four days we work the kids are with their other parents and the four days we're off they're with us. The dates I booked for us to be away will end up only needing 4 days of childcare when we'd have normally had them because we'll have been working the other 5 (but have the time booked off)...if that makes sense :)

[donutcop]

We surprised our son with a cruise for Christmas leaving on the day after a few years back. It was a tough secret to keep for 5 months but we managed to keep it quite. We almost slipped a couple of times, but the surprise was worth it. It can be done with a little work.

 

Glad to hear it can work :) I think talking about it on here might alliviate the temptation to spill the beans

[donutcop]

You could pull a double surprise -- tell him 18 hours before (so he doesn't nap) ... but tell him you got a great last minute deal on a week in Miami! That way he can see all the luggage (the night before) and pack what he wants for warm weather, but still won't really know what the big surprise is.

 

Once you're in Miami you can decide when to tell him. (You might have to explain why you don't want to unpack everything -- or why you're staying at a not particularly tourist-y hotel)

 

The hotel can be explained by the great deal you got -- and I suppose you COULD unpack, and then re-pack (with his help) after you suggest over breakfast that you'd like to spend the day in your cabin on the _______.

 

Ohhhh, i'm liking that idea......hmmmm now to think of a trip i'd book for us to go on.... That could be a way to explain why I took our nightshift off.... Because the "seat sale" was only on the next morning.... Then on the way to the airport i'll play some cruising music in the car and spill the beans.... So he'll know we're going away, but not the true destination until we drive to the airport.

[bluesea777]

Yes I booked out flights for the day before. Staying in Miami the night before the cruise.

 

Yes I've already paid the final payment..... No worries there :)

 

Good thinking re seeing a friend off to the airport. We live 20 minutes from the airport -25 minutes if we went directly from work. I could maybe get away with telling him someone is flying in and needs to be picked up even.... Hmmmm

 

I think there are more early morning departures than arrivals - you better check first or your DH might be too smart??

 

I vote for you telling him that he's on vacation when you both get ready for your "night shift" - perhaps drive out of house for a mile and then turn back to house saying you forgot something - and then present him with air tickets for the next morning. Then enjoy the evening getting ready and panicking for the flight out. This way, the last minute things your husband might have can be ironed out of the way.

[donutcop]

I think there are more early morning departures than arrivals - you better check first or your DH might be too smart??

 

I vote for you telling him that he's on vacation when you both get ready for your "night shift" - perhaps drive out of house for a mile and then turn back to house saying you forgot something - and then present him with air tickets for the next morning. Then enjoy the evening getting ready and panicking for the flight out. This way, the last minute things your husband might have can be ironed out of the way.

 

Good idea....Maybe that's how i'll have him find out.... hmmmm.... my wheels are spinning. I have been trying to figure out how i'll get the dog to the dogsitter's place. My husband takes care of the dog and would notice the dog missing if I took her over too soon. However if i expand on your plan and we get ready for work and then leave only for me to remember something and turn back to get it.... however i'll run in the house and come out with the dog.... My husband will be confused which is when i'll spring the surprise on him! (so many ideas!)

[maxshadoe]

A few weeks ago we were on the Dawn, Boston to Bermuda. I booked the trip 9 months out via NCL and switched the reservation to a local TA. All the materials from NCL were mailed to the TA, who had my cell # only and I was called when the paperwork came in, no paper mail to the house. I contacted NCL and had them change our contact number to the cell number.

I told DW were were going to Maine for an ocean front vacation with dining out at a few pretty good place.(hence she packed herself for sun and sand).

To get her to the dock, I told her that we had been invited to a travel Agent entertainment demo in Boston (told here that Jose and Patty were to be there). I said that we would get to see some NCL acts. The location I gave her was across from the terminal.

On that Friday am we went into Boston, got near the terminal instead of a right , took a left and stopped in front of the luggage drop off area, turned to her and handed her the tickets and her passport.

 

It was a complete surprise. Nine months, family, knew, her friends knew and co-workers knew and no one spilled the beans.

[sjbdtz]

You could pull a double surprise -- tell him 18 hours before (so he doesn't nap) ... but tell him you got a great last minute deal on a week in Miami! That way he can see all the luggage (the night before) and pack what he wants for warm weather, but still won't really know what the big surprise is.

 

Once you're in Miami you can decide when to tell him. (You might have to explain why you don't want to unpack everything -- or why you're staying at a not particularly tourist-y hotel)

 

The hotel can be explained by the great deal you got -- and I suppose you COULD unpack, and then re-pack (with his help) after you suggest over breakfast that you'd like to spend the day in your cabin on the _______.

 

I like this idea a lot... book a vacation in Miami, but don't tell him about the cruise until the morning-of.... by saying something like "wow, look at all of those cruise ships! Geez, I wish "WE" were taking a cruise...". When he off-handedly says "yeah, me too", tell him to pack up, 'cause you ARE.

 

 

 

.

[Winston Wolf]

No suite for us so no worries on that end. He also doesn't have a myNCL account. We've only ever sailed with Royal. As for credit card statements, he's doesn't bother to look. So long as the balances aren't up he's not worried. I have everything booked with my email address so things should be safe on that end too. Only glitch is his passport expires 2 weeks before we go so i'm going to have to convince him to renew it soon. Thankfully mine is expired too so I might say we should get them done in case we do a road trip to NH to outlet shop in the Fall. ;)

 

You absolutely NEED to get that done. Often they won't let you leave the country if your passport is set to expire within 6 months.

[donutcop]

A few weeks ago we were on the Dawn, Boston to Bermuda. I booked the trip 9 months out via NCL and switched the reservation to a local TA. All the materials from NCL were mailed to the TA, who had my cell # only and I was called when the paperwork came in, no paper mail to the house. I contacted NCL and had them change our contact number to the cell number.

I told DW were were going to Maine for an ocean front vacation with dining out at a few pretty good place.(hence she packed herself for sun and sand).

To get her to the dock, I told her that we had been invited to a travel Agent entertainment demo in Boston (told here that Jose and Patty were to be there). I said that we would get to see some NCL acts. The location I gave her was across from the terminal.

On that Friday am we went into Boston, got near the terminal instead of a right , took a left and stopped in front of the luggage drop off area, turned to her and handed her the tickets and her passport.

 

It was a complete surprise. Nine months, family, knew, her friends knew and co-workers knew and no one spilled the beans.

 

That sounds awesome!!! I bet your wife was excited!! I can't imagine trying to keep the secret for 9 months!

[donutcop]

You absolutely NEED to get that done. Often they won't let you leave the country if your passport is set to expire within 6 months.

 

I'm hoping to get the passport pictures done tomorrow and applications done Friday. I have to change my name on my passport which requires a brand new application so might take longer to process than a simple renewal.

[pisenor]

I'm hoping to get the passport pictures done tomorrow and applications done Friday. I have to change my name on my passport which requires a brand new application so might take longer to process than a simple renewal.

 

The passport office downtown at the Maritime Centre is pretty good at getting things done quickly. I know once you drop everything off it goes elsewhere and is out of their control but we always have ours back in about 3 weeks. I guess what I am trying to say is I recommend you take the application right to the passport office and not a Canada Post office as that just slows down the process. If time isn't an issue then any drop off spot will do. Remember this, if you do drop it off at a secondary location and everything on the application isn't correct they will send it back for you to correct the error. Since you are doing a name change I would suggest the office downtown as they will be able to point out any errors and get you underway faster.

 

We just (8 months ago) renewed ours and we went to the Maritime Centre to drop the applications off and we had them back in about 3 weeks. we had made a mistake and were able to correct it on the spot without having to wait for it to come back in the back. When we first got our previous passports 5 years ago we had the same turn around time. That was very impressive as my DW and DS never had a passport before and mine had been expired for about 20 years.

 

Good luck on the secret keeping. Your secret is safe with me ;) Unless he pulls me over some night and I have to use the info to avoid a ticket.....lol

 

Have a great time on your secret cruise!

[newtocruisingcdn]

We just had our passports renewed. We went to a Service Canada office and she went over the forms to make sure everything was in order. She even sent the forms in for us. They were back in under 3 weeks hope this helps.

[donutcop]

The passport office downtown at the Maritime Centre is pretty good at getting things done quickly. I know once you drop everything off it goes elsewhere and is out of their control but we always have ours back in about 3 weeks. I guess what I am trying to say is I recommend you take the application right to the passport office and not a Canada Post office as that just slows down the process. If time isn't an issue then any drop off spot will do. Remember this, if you do drop it off at a secondary location and everything on the application isn't correct they will send it back for you to correct the error. Since you are doing a name change I would suggest the office downtown as they will be able to point out any errors and get you underway faster.

 

We just (8 months ago) renewed ours and we went to the Maritime Centre to drop the applications off and we had them back in about 3 weeks. we had made a mistake and were able to correct it on the spot without having to wait for it to come back in the back. When we first got our previous passports 5 years ago we had the same turn around time. That was very impressive as my DW and DS never had a passport before and mine had been expired for about 20 years.

 

Good luck on the secret keeping. Your secret is safe with me ;) Unless he pulls me over some night and I have to use the info to avoid a ticket.....lol

 

Have a great time on your secret cruise!

 

LMAO! No worries with getting pulled over....Neither one of us are cops who like giving tickets.

 

Good point about going direct to Martime Centre. I had figured we'd just drop off at the place in Bedford, but maybe we'll make a day of it and take the kids to Point Pleasant Park after hitting Maritime Centre.

[TrinaLC]

I like the idea of a double surprise as well - "hey, we're going to Miami for a week!" and then springing the cruise when you are in Miami (unless there is any risk that he'd actually prefer Miami over the cruise and be disappointed!)

[D&J 2004]

It is a great thing to see people going to great lengths for their spouse! We are going on a cruise for our 10th anniversary in October. It will be me, my DW & 2 sons (6 & 8). We booked an ocean view stateroom because there were no 4 person balconies. What she doesn't know is that I called NCL & upgraded to a suite. I have told no one except my father, but it is difficult to contain the excitement! It blesses me to hear about your plans for your husband, and I hope you have an amazing time!